Little Lulu

International Name: Lucien
Nickname: Lulu

Local Name: Espasol
Nickname: 'Spa

This is my new car, a 1.3 S M/T Honda Jazz.
No license plates, yet, bummer.

Brief history:

So in 2004 I saw the cute TV ad about a girl with a Honda Jazz that she managed to stuff everything into. Including the dog. Zero impact on me.

Then I had a coffee with someone who will not be named on this blog at the end of that year and I didn't realize he had the compact/hatchback until I got home. It seemed like a regular sized car inside. That sparked my decision to eventually get one if I could.

By the last quarter of 2005, I was REALLY set on buying the Honda Jazz. Until I went to Honda Cars Alabang and the Sales Executive told me that I would need Php 400K for 50% down payment. Then she advised me that they phased out the red-colored unit so they were recommending a pink-colored unit, shudder. Plus she never called me back for the test drive. I decided to resign myself to becoming a Toyota Vios owner. They had a red-colored unit and the car came with an airbag.

In the beginning of 2006, I started surfing the net to read the reviews on both cars. I even looked at the Honda City as a last resort. I was set on buying a car before the end of the month to beat the price increase due to E-VAT :P

One Saturday morning Nini and I dropped by Toyota to get a feel of the Vios: cramped and restricted. Even worse, they weren't interested in having me trade-in Silver as part of the downpayment. Imagine, their own car, strange. In the afternoon, I took a chance and dropped by Honda again. The Sales Executive this time gave me a better computation and the difference between the down payment for the Toyota Vios and the Honda Jazz was less than Php 20K. There was also the issue of airbag vs. storage space. More importantly, they were interested in getting Silver as part of the down payment (bittersweet, I know).

Well, I came up with the money and am enjoying the perks that come with Lulu. Just around a radius of 15 kms. Southbound from my home though until I finally get my license plates, heh2! ;)

It's the start of a beautiful friendship...